Garment press



Apfil v19, 1927.

F. BALZER GARMENT PRES S Filed 00T.. 2, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 1,625,071 Aprll 19 1927' F. BALzER GARMENT .PRE'SS Filed 001'.. 20, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IQ. Lf.

` operation of the machine and for Patented Apr. 19, 1,927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.v

FRITZ BALZER, OF MOLINE, ILLINOIS, -ASSIGNOR T0 TROY LAUNDRY MACHINERY CO., LTD., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION 0F NEW YORK.v y i be desired. `Though the present invention will be described in connection with garment presses its field of usefulness is much`V broader, the subject matter of the present invention being applicable to presses for a wide variety of pur oses.

An object of the present invention is to provide a positively operated press in which the-danger to the operator is reduced to a minumum.

A further object is to provide an improved power operated pressv having a guard for shielding the operator from the danger zone, which guard, while being effective to protect the operator, vwill not slow down the operation of the press.

A further object is to-"provide a safety press which is simple and certain in opera-.

tion, which will protect the operator thereof and which will be convenient to use.

A further object is to provide'a power operated press having combined guard and control means -for effectively governing the protecting the operator from danger.

Further objects will appear as the description proceeds. Referring to the drawings- Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a garment press embodying the principles of the present invention; v

Figure 2 is a view in fron-t elevation of the structure shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary View illustrating certain of 'the parts when the upper pressingbuck is in its upper or inoperative position;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 but showing the parts as they are disposed when the upper buck is in its lower or operative position;

Figure 5 is a detailed view, partly in sec tion, illustrating certain control mechanism;

F igure is a fragmentary view illustrating celtain control mechanism with the upperbuck in its inoperative or nonpressing position; l l

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 6 but GARMENT rnnss.

Application filed October 20, 1924. "Serial No."7451,612. l

showing the mechanism of Figure 6 in the position which it assumes when the upper buk is in its operative or pressing position; an

pressure on the various portions vof the upper buck when garments of non-uniform thickness are being pressed.

Figure 9 illustrates certain coupling mechanism.

Figure 8 illustrates means for equalizing Referring first to Figures 1v` and 2, the

numeral 1 indicates a-standard, which may have the three supporting legs 2, 3 and 4. Said standard'forms a rigid supportfor the lower buck land for the work table portion 6. Carried by the standard is the bracket 7, which provides 'a pivotal mounting for the lever 8, saidlever 8 being swung about'the axis indicated by the numeral 9.. I

The lever 8 is provided at its upper portion with the two arms 10-10 each of which is provided With a pressure equalizer indicated by the numeral 11. Said pressure equalizers do not constitutethepresent invention and need not be .described in detail herein. It

may be stated briefly, however,I that said pressure equalizers provide resilient mountings for-thegupper buck 12, whereby when the upper buck 12 is moved into pressing relationship with the lower buck 5 the two equalizers 11-11 may yield sufficiently to equalize the pressure when garments of non-uniform thickness 'are being pressed. Mounted at the lower end of the 4lever 8 is the pitman 13, which pitman is connected to the crank 14. Said crank 14' is rigidly mounted upon the shaft 15, which shaft is driven by the Worm wheel 16.v Said worm Wheel 16 is connected to be driven by the worm 17, which worm 17 is rigidly mounted upon theshaft 18. Said shaft 18 isrigidly connected to the clutch element 19,-which is adapted to have ycooperative relationshipy with the clutch element 20. Said clutch ele; ment 20, which preferably takes the form of a fly wheel, is driven by the motor 21, which may operate continually while the press is in operation. Any preferred switch mechanism may be provided Vforcontrolling fthe energization of the electric motor 21.

Also mounted to have swinging vmovement about the axis 9 is the guard 22, which is adapted to be disposedl in position to guard the operator against ingress to the pressing region. Said guard 22-is also adapted to ing region,

have a position out of the way of the p resswhereby the garments may readily be inserted into and removed from the press. The inoperative positions of the 22 and the upper buck 12 are shown in dotted lines in Figure 1.

Hingedly connected to the guard 22 on an axis 23 displaced from the axis 9 is the control rod 24, which control rod governs the operativeness of the clutch elements 2() and 19 in a manner which'will be described presently. As shown in Figures 1 and 6, a pair of levers 25 and 26 are provided pivoted about the axis 27, which axis is displaced from the axes 9 and 23. The levers 25 and 26 are connected, respectively, to the arms 28 and` 29, which arms are rotatably mounted upon the shaft 30. Said arms 28 and 29 have clutch portions which are spaced apart along the 'shaft 30. Also mounted upon the shaft 30 and splined thereto is the coupling member. 31. ber is capable of longitudinal movement on the shaft 30 but, being splined to said shaft, will communicate rotative movement to said shaft when said coupling member is rotated. Said coupling member 31 is controlled by Athe bell crank 32, which in turn is controlled by the control rod 24. Y

1t will be clear that swinging movement `of the lever 8 will result in rocking movement of the arms 28 and 29, If the coupling member 30 is connected to either of said arms 28 or 29, rocking movement will be communicated to said coupling member, and due to the non-rotatable connection between the coupling member 31 and shaft 30, a rocking movement will be communicated to said shaft 30. Non-rotatably connected to the shaft 18 is the yoke 33, which yoke is provided with a pair of diametrically opposed pins 34-34 adapted to control the clutch element 19, which, as explained hereinbefore, drives the worm 17 to communicate motion through the worm wheel 16, crank arm 14 and pitman 13 to the operating lever 8 of the press. The clutch element -19 may be provided with 'a suitable groove for receiving'the pins 34-34 of the yoke 33. Said movable clutch element 19 'may be urged into gripping relationship with the clutch element 20 by means of the spring 35, whereby an operative connection will be had-between the motor 21 and the operating lever 8 at all times except when the clutch element 19 is positively held avainst the tension of the spring 35 out of clutching'relationship with the clutch element 20.

Coupling member 31 has a nection with of its axial movement and has a lost motion connection with arm 29 at the other extremity of its axial movement. When couplin member 31 is moved out of cooperative relationship with 'one of the arms 28 or 29 lost motion con- Said coupling memarm 28 when at one extremity it is moved into cooperative relationship with the other of said arms. Said arms 28 and 29 may have single projecting teeth adapted to engage with single'f projecting teeth of the coupling member 31, said teeth being disposed in such positions that arms 28 and 29 will actuate coupling member 31 to release clutch element 19 when 'the lever 8 is at or near thetwo extremities of its travel. Referring to Figure 9, arm 28 is provided with a tooth 36 adapted to engage with a tooth 37 on the adjacent face of coupling member 31. The other face of coupling member 31 is provided with a tooth 38 adapted to engage with a tooth 39 onv the boss of arm 29.

A mode of operation of the above described embodiment of the present invention is substantially as follows: When the operator desires to start work, he closes the circuit to energize the motor 21, whereby the clutch element 20 will rotate continuously. At this time the guard 22 and the upper buck 12 will be in their uppermost or inoperative positions, as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1' and as shown in Figure 3. The means for heating the bucks 5 and 12 is not illusthe boss ot trated herein inasmuch asJthe heating feai the arm 28, which arm 28 is connected to the lever 25, and the yoke 33 will hold the 'clutch element 19 out of cooperative relationship with the clutch element 20.

After the operator has arranged the garments on the lower buck 5, he will move the guard 22 into guarding relationship with the pressing region. n

By reason of the fact that the control rod 24 is connected to the guard-22, said movement of guard 22 to guarding position will result in the movement upwardly of said control rod 24. This movement will rock the bell crank 32 about its axis and will result in the longitudinal movement of the coupling element 31, whereby to move said coupling element 31 out of cooperative relationship with the arm 28. This action will permit the spring 35 to move the clutch element 19 in to cooperative relationship with the clutch element 20. The motor 21 will now drive the shaft 18, worm 17, worm `wheel 16, crank 14 and pitman 13 to combe positively movedinto` lou ment 31 into position to be engaged by the tooth of the arm 29. When the upper buck 12 has moved toits lowermost position,'the crank 14 and pitman 13 will be in line, or nearly so, as shown in Figures 1 and 4. Said crank 14 and pitman`13 form members of a toggle mechanism and will exert a powerful action upon the lever 8 whereby to exert a heavy pressure in the pressing operation. The coupling element 31 and the arm 29 will be so designed that when the crank 14 and pitman 13 are approximately in a straight line, lever 26 will have moved arm 29 to such a position as to exert a rocking movement upon the coupling element 31, whereby to rock the yoke 33 to withdraw the clutch element 19- out of cooperative relationship with the clutch element 20. Communication will, therefore, be interrupted between the motor`21 and the worm wheel ing position. 1n order that an operator may attend to several machines at once, said operator may lock the guard in lts guarding position. f The movement of the coupling element 31 out of cooperative relationship y with the arm 29 will position thecoupLling element 31 in cooperative relationship with the arm 28. When the operator desires to have the upper buck 12 moved to its uppermost position he will cause the guard 22 to move outlof guarding relationship with the pressing region. For this purpose the guard 22 will ordinarily be biased to its upper position by a weight or spring, not shown. Movement of the guard 22 to its upper position will result in the lowering of the control rod`24, which, acting through the bell crank 32, will shift the cou ling elementv 3l out of cooperative urelationsliip with the arm 29 into cooperative relationshlp with the arm 28. By reason of the fact that the coupling element 31- is released from the arm 29, the

' spring 35 will'vallow' the coupler element 19 to engagethecoupler element20, whereby the motor 21 may again drive the worm 17,

'worm wheel 16, crank 14 ,and pitman 13.

The continued rotation of the worm wheel 16 will result in movement of the upper buck from its lowermost -or operative position to its inoperative or uppermost position. When said buck has reached its uppermost position the tooth 36 on arm 28 will engage the coupling `element 31 to produce a rocking movement of shaft 30 and yoke 33 to move the coupler element 19 out of cooperative relationship with coupler element 20. The parts will now be locked with the upper buck in its upper or inoperative position. At the Sametime the guard will be held in had to the garments which have been subjected to the pressing operation. .It will /be clear that when the upperbuc'k is in either its upper position or the lower position, it will be securely locked by reason of the locking action between the worm wheel 16 and worm 17.

It will be apparent that the present invention provides apress in which danger to the operator has been reduced to a minimum. No inconvenience to the operator is involved in the provision of the safety mechanism, -inasmuch as when itis desired to insert garments into the press or remove garments therefrom, said safety mechanism is well out of the way. 'After said garments have been placed in proper position only a single manual movement is required by the operator to set the parts in motion to positively and powerfully apply the upper buck in pressing relationship with the lower buck.

Though a' preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail, it will be understood that many modiications will occur to those skilled in the art. It is intended to cover all such modilications that fall Within the scope of the appended claims.

I cla'im:

1. A garment press, comprising a movable buck, means for transmitting power to said buck, said power transmitting means including a Worm and worm wheel, means responsive to said buck for controlling said power transmitting means, a ard, and means responsive to said guar orgoverning said controlling means.

2. Apress, including a movable pressing member, power transmitting means for moving said pressing member, said power transmit-ting means including normally nonreversible transmitting mechanism, means responsive to the movement of said movable pressing member Lfor controlling the opera- -tiveness of said transmitting means, a guard,

and means responsive to said guard `tor governing said controlling means.

3. A press, including a relatively movable pressing member, toggle means for t-ra'nsmitting power to said pressing member, nonerating said toggle means, a. source of power, means between said source and said nonreversible power transmitting means for controlling the Aconnection therebetween, a guard for said movable pressing member, and means jointly responsive to the movement of said guard and said movable pressing member for governing said controlling means.

4. A. garment press, comprising a stationary buck, a movable buck, a lever having resilient connection with said movable buck for transmitting power thereto, a guard lio reversible transmitting mechanism for opmounted for swinging movement about the axis of said lever, power transmitting mechanism including non-reversible gearing for communicating motion to said lever, a source ot' power, a clutch between said source of power and said non-reversible gearing, and mechanism jointly responsive to said lever and to said guard for controlling said clutch.

5. A garment press, includinga relatively stationary buck, a movable buck, means for positively moving said movable buck into cooperative relationship with said stationary buck, said means including a togglemechanism, a source of power, means including a coupler for connecting said source to said toggle mechanism, coupler control means. mea'ns responsive to said first mentioned means for actuating said coupler control means, a guard for said press, and means responsive to said guard for governing said coupler control means.

6. A garment press, comprising a -relatively stationary buck, a relatively movable buck, a lever having a resilient connection with said movable buck for operating said movable buck, toggle means for operating said lever, a worm and worm wheel for driving said toggle means, motor for driving said worm and worm Wheel, a clutch for governing the driving relationship between said motor and said worm and worm wheel, means for operating said clutch, means connected with said lever for moving sa'id opmovable 'buck out of said pressing relation-` ship, a source of power, coupler mechanism between said source of power and said forcing means, means for disconnecting said coupler mechunism near both extremities of the stroke of said movable buck, a guard and means responsive to said guard and to said movable'buck for governing said disconnectting means.

8. A garment ress, including a stationary buck, a movable uck, means for forcing said movable buck into pressing relationship with said stationary buck and for moving said movable buck out of said pressing relationship, a source of power, coupler mechanism between said source ofpower and said forcing means, means for disconnecting said coupler mechanism near the extremities of the stroke of said movable buck, a' guard, and means responsive to said guard and to said movable buck for governing said disconnecting means.

Signed at East Moline, Illinois, this 22nd day of September, 1924.

F'RITZ BALZER. 

